Rio Tinto reports landslip at part of US Bingham Canyon copper mine

The combination of the two companies will result in a mid-sized copper miner, with an expected annual production of about 73,000 tonnes of the metal.

The maintenance activity, originally scheduled for April, comes amid media reports that thousands had taken to the streets and shut shops in Thootukudi to protest against the expansion of the smelter.

Gungnir's drill campaign would begin in the second quarter of 2018 with 20 diamond drill holes testing six target areas over a strike length of more than 8 km.

Mining revenue in the fourth quarter more than doubled helped by higher prices for key exports such as copper and cobalt.

The state’s "bad actor" law has only been used once before, and Hecla’s president and chief executive officer, Phillips Baker is the first top executive at a large company to be scrutinized under it.

Results from 11 of the 12 drilling rigs at its 85%-owned Cascabel copper-gold project, suggest there is much more intense mineralization in the property than thought earlier, the company said.

The are two main factors that appear to be emerging that may threaten an end to the current quite rosy picture surrounding demand for commodities such as iron ore, steel and the metals most exposed to the battery boom, cobalt, lithium and nickel.

Failure to reach a labor deal caused a 44-day strike at the mine last year.

Soaring cobalt and lithium prices are pushing some companies to dig for them in the recycle bin, which some believe could be even more profitable than mining them.